ON/OFF Warpaint Interview

This exclusive Warpaint interview was conducted by The Future Tense as part of the ON/OFF project.

Details of ON/OFF can be found here and a full list of featured interviews can be found here.

Each artist was asked the same series of questions relating to the live music experience, before being photographed just before and again immediately after performing.

Band: Warpaint

Interviewee: Theresa Wayman

Venue: The Barfly, London

Date: November 15th 2010

What is your most memorable live moment as a fan?

Watching The Cure play the Sunday night headline slot at Coachella 2009. They played for over 2.5 hours, which was way past the festival’s midnight curfew, so the entire PA system was shut off. But they kept playing through just their amps and miniscule amounts of PA for the vocals. Most people left, so it turned into this totally intimate show. Those guys are amazing musicians and can play forever.

What is your most memorable live moment as a performer?

I find it really special every time we play for a sold out crowd that’s really vocal and obviously into what we’re doing. That never ceases to be the best feeling. I particularly enjoyed playing The Camp in 2009. I loved the crowd and loved the basement setting. It felt just ‘punk’ enough but the sound was still good, and we played really well.

Have you had any disasters on stage?

Nothing aside from little technical problems here and there…sorry…that’s really boring! I could say we wet ourselves just as we got onstage at Lollapalooza or something but that’s just not true…although, it almost was. No one’s ever gotten up on stage and tried to make out with any of us, or stage dive…guess that just means there’s still something to look forward to!

Do you have any live performance aspirations?

Our aspiration for every gig is just to play our asses off and feel the flow. I love it when we improvise, which is something we like to add into the live show here and there. You can tell when we are all feeling the same moment and really locked in with each other without a set plan. It’s always really special and you can’t get to that place if you’re too aware of the audience or looking at what you’re doing from the outside in.

Any pre/post performance rituals?

We do a little cheer but I can’t tell you what it is or I might have to kill you. Or marry you. Or have your child.

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